Book Club #3-Kindergarten Literacy

Book Club #3-Kindergarten Literacy

Heather and I read the last two chapters of Kindergarten Literacy by Dr. Anne McGill-Franzen on reading and writing.  Children write for a reason.  They have something to say that they want others to understand.  Learning to write often precedes learning to read.  Reading and writing go hand in hand.  Wanting to write motivates children to learn how print works.  Writing is talk with an added twist.  The twist is we must choose a form in which to convey our ideas. We talked about the importance of the table on page 198 ‘A Child’s Understanding of Print Concepts’.  We must understand the progression of a child’s writing.  Children need to learn how to write for different purposes and for different people.  Our audience or ideas are never the same.  I like the idea of thinking aloud about the process of writing, the process of choosing an idea, thinking what to write next, think about your audience, or choosing words, etc.  There are many useful strategies in both of these chapters.  I am also excited about “sharing the pen” with my students more this year.  I have been doing guided writing with my students after my guided reading lesson but I would like to have more writing interaction as a whole group.  I also agree with Heather that the everyday writing routines will be very useful when I begin to think about scheduling for the upcoming school year.  I want to do more writing strategies in my classroom such as revision, editing, and articulation. Read alouds, shared reading, guided reading and independent reading are very important and a combination of these things can support children at all ability levels.  We also must model reading strategies so that they will be able to use them effectively.  There is no reading if either decoding or listening comprehension is missing.  We thought the table on page 250 was very useful and also how to model the strategies is beneficial.  The idea of linking reading and writing with series books which is a new strategy for the both of us.  We hope to use this in our classrooms since we know more about it now.       

I love the last paragraph on page 222, “Watching a kindergartener learn to write is like watching a morning glory unfurl in he morning sun.  One minute the child is writing a faint scribble on the page, and the next time you turn around, the writing is in full bloom.  What a thrill it is to see that full, bold color, and hear a new voice declaring itself to the world.  And, oh, children have so much to say!”  It is so exciting to see my students grow throughout the school year and I believe Dr. Anne’s book will be helpful as a start a new journey with a new group of students this fall.